Reba McEntire will get some hosting help onstage at the Academy of Country Music Awards in April.

Fellow Oklahoma native Blake Shelton will share the duties with McEntire, who has hosted the ceremony for 12 years.

The two singers are managed by McEntire’s husband, Narvel Blackstock, and announced last year’s nominations together.

“When they did that, you saw a chemistry,” says ACM executive director Bob Romeo. “They played off each other naturally. They seemed warm and spontaneously funny.”

Shelton, who is engaged to singer Miranda Lambert, wasn’t completely surprised by the invitation to co-host. He says the producers had been gauging his interest for a while.

“I thought, ‘If things keep going good for me, this is probably something I should look forward to,’ ” he says.

After launching his recording career a decade ago, Shelton has seen his stock rise sharply in the past year.

He won his first ACM Award in 2010, a vocal-event trophy for his Hillbilly Bone duet with Trace Adkins. That set off a string of accolades, including another No. 1 hit with All About Tonight and Grand Ole Opry membership.

He’ll launch his first major headlining tour Jan. 28 in La Crosse, Wis.

The ACMs are the year’s first show in an increasingly crowded country-music awards field. The CMT Music Awards take place in June, followed by the CMA Awards, which air on ABC in November. Last December, Fox premiered its own show, the American Country Awards. Last year, Shelton took home trophies from all four. He also picked up his first Grammy nomination last month.

Shelton may have to tone down his act for network television. His Twitter feed, which has more than 150,000 followers, is known for its contentiousness, and Shelton says Romeo and the show’s executive producer sometimes express concerns about his raunchier humor.

“I cut them right off and tell them, ‘Guys, don’t worry about it,’ ” Shelton says. “They’re a little worried, but I think that makes them excited at the same time.”

Romeo seems to have overcome any anxiety. “Reba can keep him on a leash,” he says. “Both Reba and Blake are funny, and they can get out there on you.”

Nominations for the 46th Academy of Country Music Awards will be announced next month. The awards show will air live from Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 3 (CBS, 8 p.m. ET/PT).

It was a fitting invitation for one of country music’s rising stars. Blake Shelton, beloved and despised because of his candid Twitter comments, has been invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry via a tweet.

Blake, who was part of tonight’s (Sept. 28) return of the Opry to the Grand Ole Opry House, had just finished singing
“Hillbilly Bone” with Opry member Trace Adkins when Trace showed him a tweet from the Opry:

“@blakeshelton, you’re invited to join the Grand Ole Opry. See you on 10/23/2010!”

Needless to say, Blake accepted. “This right here is the highlight of my career,” he told those in attendance.

Blake’s fiance, Miranda Lambert, quickly weighed in, also via Twitter:

“I am engaged to a member of the Grand Ole’ Opry!!!! That rocks:)”

The star-studded show—the first at the Opry House since flooding in May—included performances by Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Charlie Daniels, Steve Wariner and Montgomery Gentry, among others.

Source: Country Weekly

The Grand Ole Opry returns to the Opry House tonight for its first show back in the building since it was damaged in the May floods. The all-star lineup includes Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, Ricky Skaggs, Blake Shelton and many others. The Tennessean previewed the freshly renovated space on Monday, and Bentley was on hand to chat and pose for photos.

Tickets to tonight’s show are sold out, but fans can watch the last two hours of the broadcast from 8 to 10 p.m. on GAC.

Blake & Miranda was featured in this week CW magazine about their engagement party! I hope you enjoy and I will be catching up on everything around here…probably including a new layout. I hope you enjoy and thanks for visiting us!

Gallery Link:
• Magazine Scans : 2010 : Country Weekly – August 2, 2010

I’ve done a big gallery update today for Blake’s birthday and for the fans to celebrated it! I’ve added more pictures from the CMT Awards with Blake & Trace in the pressroom, I’ve added over 100 pictures from the CMA Festival, this week’s Country Weekly scan and the July 2010 People: Country Special with the hottest men with Blake being on of them! Enjoy!

Gallery Links:
• Public Appearances : 2010 : CMT Awards
• Magazine Scans : 2010 : Country Weekly – June 21, 2010
• Public Appearances : 2010 : 2010 CMA Music Festival
• Magazine Scans : 2010 : People: Country Special – July 2010

Blake was featured in this week’s Country Weekly, it has an article talking about Blake’s new signature guitar. It’s a good article, everybody should read. Previews are below and in the gallery.

Gallery Links:
• Magazine Scans : 2010 : Country Weekly – May 31, 2010